Preferential Listing Treatment?

Question

I listed an item that is also being listed by several other sellers (a government uniform patch), and eBay removed the listing, saying my item was prohibited. Meanwhile, at least two other sellers in the U.S. are selling the exact same patches.

When I reported the items, this was eBay's response:

"What happened:
We looked into your report and didnâ€™t find the listing to be in violation of our policy.

This determination was made by a customer service agent."

Looks like certain sellers are getting preferential treatment over others.

Is this the case?

eburtonlab · Answer

Here is what eBay has to say about removed listings:

"Why was my listing removed/hidden when similar listings are still active?

If your listing is removed or hidden by eBay, you may see similar listings still active on the site. This could be for several reasons:

There may be differences between the two listings that are not obvious
The other seller may be a rights owner or an authorized retailer of the item
A participant in the VeRO program may have asked us to remove your listing but hasn't requested the other listing's removal. These types of removals are only done at the request of the VeRO participant; they are not eBay's decision. Read more about the VeRO Program
Your listing was reported to us, but the other listing was not

If you think another listing isn't following our policies, please let us know and we'll investigate."